3/21/2012 11:09:00 a.m. -
Reported by
Chuck Foster

The BBC have announced that the new co-star to appear alongside Matt Smith in Doctor Who is to be Jenna-Louise Coleman, who joins the show in the sixth episode this year, due to be shown at Christmas.

The actress was announced via the BBC's Doctor Who feed on Twitter, which also included some quotes. Jenna-Louise said: "I want to get started already. I'm a huge fan of the show.« Matt Smith did my audition with me. It was fun and I felt like we were in it together.«"; and on her favourite companion, "Between Billie Piper and Karen Gillan". Lead writer Steven Moffat said: "We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt - he had to keep up!«"

Expanding on this in the press release, he said:

It always seems impossible when you start casting these parts, but when we saw Matt and Jenna together, we knew we had our girl. She's funny and clever and exactly mad enough to step on board the TARDIS.

It's not often the Doctor meets someone who can talk even faster than he does, but it's about to happen. Jenna is going to lead him his merriest dance yet. And that's all you're getting for now. Who she's playing, how the Doctor meets her, and even where he finds her, are all part of one of the biggest mysteries the Time Lord ever encounters. Even by the Doctor's standards, this isn't your usual boy meets girl.

Danny Cohen, the Controller for BBC One, added:

As we approach Doctor Who's 50th anniversary it's great to welcome a new companion to the TARDIS. I feel confident the Doctor will look after her in his own very unique style.﻿

The BBC's One O'Clock News included an item on the casting, with the actress describing when she found out she had won the part:

I was in Marks and Spencers holding an avocado - having the debate of what goes best in a salmon salad - when I got the call from my agent. It was kind of a bewildered excitement, confusion, "really?", oh goodness - all sorts of emotions, and I thought, after I'd hung up, I thought I really can't carry on shopping so I just put the basket down and left Marks and Spencers, and just went for a little walk and try to digest!

A full version of the interview with Entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba can be watched via the BBC News site.

The twenty-five-year-old first came to public attention playing Jasmine Thomas in the long-running soap Emmerdale between 2005 and 2009. She then went on to appear in series five of the BBC's award-winning Waterloo Road as Lindsay Jones, and will be seen on television this coming Sunday in the ITV mini-series Titanic as Annie Desmond. Her debut in film came with the role of Connie in Captain America: The First Avenger, and she has also lent her voice to the English version of the game Xenoblade Chronicles.

NB: The BBC have confirmed that Jenna-Louise Coleman does not have, and does not plan to have, a Twitter account.

Production:

It was also confirmed this morning when Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will depart, with Steven Moffat saying: "Amy and Rory will leave in the fifth episode that goes out, and it will be a final encounter with the Weeping Angels, and not everybody gets out alive - and I mean it this time!"

As well as the lonely assassins, Doctor Who Magazine have also reported that the Daleks, too, will feature during the first half of the series this Autumn.

Speaking to the Radio Times at the Royal Television Society awards last night, Moffat explained the style of story-telling for the next series:

This time we're moving closer to stand-alone stories. At this point, we're not planning any two-parters. So, every week is going to be like a different mad movie.

We went quite 'arc' last time and we're going stand-alone this time around. But that doesn't mean that there aren't those things creeping in. You've got to find a way to make the last episode special, and by God that worked ratings-wise last year. We don't want to abandon that idea.

Watch out for the title of episode two. I think that's a belter. It's one of my favourite titles ever.

After the six episodes broadcast in the Autumn/Christmas this year, the remaining eight will be shown next year, with Moffat adding: "Oh, there'll be more episodes than just those eight, but these are the ones we're making right now." No other details of when and what else will occur during the 50th Anniversary have been revealed as yet.